Time tracking blog

While sitting on my local equivalent to the LIRR the other day, I took a look at the amazing device in my hands and what I was doing with it.  My new shiny iPhone (or any current generation smartphone for that matter) allows me to read, create, and send/receive email, write documents and/or notes to myself, view and create spreadsheets, presentations, stay in touch with both family, friends, and clients, and administer my blogs and websites, all in the palm of my hand at 65 mph.

With the wide variety of applications now available for smartphones, there’s something for every type of user out there, and this really got me to thinking about mobile productivity.  Obviously at TSheets, we’re a bit biased on the ‘time is money’ and ‘being more productive’ opinion, but with costs of said phones falling everyday, isn’t it about time YOU started thinking about a mobile strategy for your business?

What does this all mean for you and your business?  How do you go about it?  Which plans?  Which phones?  How do I deploy all of this seemingly complex gadgetry?

Well, hold the phone partner (yes, pun intended).  Here’s a list of things to think about before you take your growing enterprise mobile.

1. Are your communications mobile friendly? While time might be money in the TWorld, size is often money in the mobile world.  Are you using a logo in your email footer?  This extra bit of transfer can add up to quite a bit of extra, unneeded cost at the end of the month.  Think about slimming everything down.
2. Are you working with the best Technology? While Palm and Apple (and quite possibly the T-Mobile/Google Android phone soon enough) have been making great headway into the mobile enterprise market, there’s a common misconception that Blackberry is the way to go.  Perhaps the pricing structure might work best for you, but don’t be too quick to rule other smartphones out simply because they’re not carrying the crackberry logo.
3. Are you in sync? If you’re using Microsoft Exchange, chances are you’re already covered, but a good thing to think about is ‘Is everyone on the same page?’  Can all mobile users synchronize email, contact lists, calendars, etc. to ensure that everyone is, literally, on the same page?  Would this help grease the productivity wheels within your team?
4. Do you have a mobile plan? If you’re already issuing company phones, check with your wireless carrier if they offer enterprise smartphone packages, what features they offer, and what the price difference would be.  It’s entirely possible that some of the features designated for smartphones are already covered in your package.  Try getting a test phone or two that you and another trusted member of the team can use for a month or so.  Keep track of the usage: emails, calendars, meeting planning times, how often you use it to increase productivity on the LIRR for example.
5. Is your website mobile compatible? Here’s one that often goes unsaid, but is your main website already mobile compatible?  Do you offer a .mobi version of the site, or perhaps a text only based version.  Again, these things might not seem like a big deal now, but once smartphone mobile deployment is issued, with your entire staff accessing the site on a regular basis, it IS something you’re going to have to think about.
6. What’s your 20? This may be your most important consideration when deciding on a mobile strategy for your business: Security.  Do you have a backup plan if/when a smartphone goes missing?  Not just the actual hardware, but the potential loss of data and thieves access to sensitive company data.

Obviously, there’s a lot of factors to consider in whether or not you should or even need to deploy a smartphone solution for your business.  I personally know some managers and execs that couldn’t live without their mobile devices, while others that I’ve spoken to enjoy simply leaving the phone at the office.  Interesting to note, these people often also have a corporate smartphone tucked in a briefcase or bag nearby.

Having access on the go certainly leads to increased productivity, as there’s never a moment lost.  This mobile productivity can even lead to increased creativity, as a changing landscape often leads to changing thoughts, ideas, and ways to tackle a project.

Welcome back to the TBlog folks!  Before I even get started talking about the title here, I have a disclaimer to make: I bought my first iPhone last week.  I’ve been going a bit loco in the apps store and found quite a few useful tools to boost productivity, but more on that in a ‘coming soon’ kinda way.

Naturally with any new toy, I’ve now got to figure out the best way to use it, which in turn of course leads to hours upon hours of internet research, accompanied by a whole smattering of news taboot.  So when the, what I would consider less than ceremonial announcement of Google’s Android phone came out last week, I was a bit puzzled.  Even more so, when the news came through that T-Mobile had stopped taking orders, the red flags really went up.  Let me back up a bit here – to be technically correct the phone is named the G1 and is produced by HTC.  It’s slated to go on sale on October 22nd and is priced at $179.99 for those that sign the 2 year contract dotted line with T-Mobile.  Ok, nothing special here; touchscreen phones have been around for quite a while, but what DOES make this phone special is it’s operating system: Android.  Android is a software platform and OS for mobile phones that’s based on Linux and developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance.  To put that in human speak: Android is an operating system for your phone that allows programmers to work with Google developed Java libraries (but conversely will not work with programs developed in native code).  Ok maybe that wasn’t human enough – but hopefully you get the point.  It’s Googles entry in the mobile business.  Wouldn’t that be enough to write home about?

You might think that Mountain View would be throwing one of their famous shindigs and taking this new toy to Cupertino singing iPhone killer all the way.  Now, I read a lot of tech blogs, and while the G1 phone did show up, it wasn’t exactly the fanfare you’d expect.  Earlier this week, T-Mobile announced that it had stopped taking orders on this what very well may give Apple a run for their money phone.

Sorry! Due to the overwhelming popularity of the new T-Mobile G1, upgrades are temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.

My first reaction was, what the heck is going on?  While the iPhone has reigned supreme in the mobile world for quite a while now, it seems like T-Mobile didn’t exactly count on the massive number of folks interested in the G1.  While they’re keeping a tight lid on exact numbers, estimates place the figures in the 25,000 to 60,000 in week 1 range.

And now for something completely different rather coincidental.

In a remarkable coincidence, news also surfaced over the weekend that Apple has decided to free to shackles of a locked iPhone – provided you want to buy it from the Hong Kong website.  Call me a bit of a cynic, but remarkable timing here, eh?  And this just after I purchased my ‘locked’ version.  Sure, there are ways to unlock the phone, but it’s still new to me, and I’m not going to toying with any warranty voiding processes,  but it’s nice to now have the option.  Why is this particularly noteworthy?  The Hong Kong policy is a start contrast to the official Apple policy worldwide.  Sure, you can get an unlocked iPhone directly from ebay if you so choose, but that doesn’t mean that papa Jobs is happy about it.  Perhaps he has a soft spot for the Chinese market?  I doubt it.  Personally, I’m looking at the Hong Kong iPhone as a testing ground.  Let’s see how many people will fork over the $695 ($HK 5400) for the 8gb version and $798 ($HK 6200) for the 16gb version and take it from there.  With all the flurry over previous iPhone updates ‘bricking’ unlocked phones, I don’t see why this approach hasn’t been released previously.

From the Hong Kong Apple store:

iPhone 3G purchased at the Apple Online Store can be activated with any wireless carrier. Simply insert the SIM from your current phone into iPhone 3G and connect to iTunes 8 to complete activation.

If Google and T-Mobile can come up short on the supply vs. demand rule while taking pre-orders, clearly there is a significant interest in the product.  Is it enough of an interest to swing on the fence, would be iPhone purchasers?  It very well may be, but if the Hong Kong iPhone 3G is any indication, Apple isn’t going to wait around and find out.  Let’s keep our eyes peeled here and see how this whole scenario shakes out.  Add the extra sales push of the upcoming holiday season, and we could be in for an all out war of the smartphones in 2009.